Geena Rocero

Geena Rocero is an author, director, producer, model, and transgender rights activist. Or as the Filipina-American multihyphenate describes it, “I’m an artist working on many mediums.”

Indeed, Rocero, a four-time Emmy nominee, boasts an impressive résumé in media and entertainment. She serves as cohost of the news program ASPIREist, which is broadcast on HLN and CNN. She made her directorial debut with 2021’s Caretakers, an award-winning PBS/WNET docuseries that highlights the stories of frontline Filipino-American health care workers.

Additionally, Rocero serves on the advisory board of the prominent coalition SeeHer, which advocates for empowering portrayals of women and girls. And she founded her own media production company, Gender Proud, which elevates trans storytelling. In her career, Rocero has broken many barriers, among them being the first out transgender AAPI model to appear in Playboy. As an activist, she has advocated for trans equality at the White House, United Nations, and beyond.

Rocero’s proudest accomplishment this year was the release of her memoir, Horse Barbie, a two-year labor of love that debuted on May 30 — fortuitously timed between AAPI Heritage Month and Pride Month. It chronicles the journey from her native Philippines, where she competed in the transgender pageant circuit, to moving to the U.S. Initially here, she worked “stealth” as a model, and Horse Barbie details the toll inflicted by not living her authentic self as an out trans woman. The book was lauded by critics; Vogue called it “a moving chronicle of trans resilience and joy.”

At present, Rocero is working on her next scripted project, which she is directing, and “wherever the Horse Barbie Trans-Pacific saga will take me.” @geenarocero